Missing Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit will be featured on CBS' '48 Hours'

The disappearance of Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit 23 years ago will be featured on an episode of CBS' "48 Hours" that will air this weekend.

The episode, called "FindJodi," will be broadcast at 9 p.m. central time Dec. 15 on CBS affiliates around the country, including KCCI-TV in Des Moines.

"We will certainly provide some new information, that's for sure," said Jim Axelrod, a senior national correspondent for CBS News who reported the episode.

Huisentruit was a 27-year-old anchor at KIMT-TV, a CBS affiliate in Mason City, on June 27, 1995, when she failed to show up for work to anchor the 6 a.m. broadcast. She hasn't been seen since.

Axelrod said the episode will feature new information about Huisentruit's car, which has remained a subject of interest in the case. It will also explore multiple theories about her disappearance, including a look at a convicted serial rapist who once lived near Huisentruit, according to a news release.

Some of the footage in the episode will be archival video from 1995, when "48 Hours" went to Mason City immediately after Huisentruit's disappearance, intending to produce an episode. When she remained missing, the episode never aired and the footage has not been seen.

"I think what separates this from a lot of other sorts of hours that we’ll see is that we had this incredible treasure trove of video from 1995 that’s never been seen, it’s never been on the air," Axelrod said.

That includes never-before-seen footage of John Vansice, a friend of Huisentruit's who may have been the last person to see her before she vanished. Axelrod said the episode will help people get a better sense of why police have paid so much attention to Vansice over the years.

Vansice, now 72, lives in Arizona. He has not been named as a suspect and passed a police lie detector test. In March, FindJodi.com reported that Mason City police executed a search warrant on March 20, 2017 for GPS data on two cars related to Vansice.

Axelrod would not say if Vansice agreed to speak with "48 Hours" but said "we certainly made every effort as viewers will see, including going to his home."

Some of the show's archival footage includes a meeting between Vansice and Huisentruit's sister, JoAnn Nathe, according to the release.

"I just loved watching her have fun. ... I tried to watch over her. I tried to check on her once in a while. Not all the time. Just once in a while. See how’s she’s getting along,” said Vansice, according to the release, adding, "If you ever go in her apartment and you see men’s clothes, they’re mine. If I had a shirt she liked, you know I’d wear it for a while and then I’d give it to her."

Jodi Huisentruit went missing on her way to work June 27, 1995, at station KIMT in Mason City. Family and friends hope the billboards will bring new clues to the investigation.(Photo: Special to the Register/FIndJodi.com)

The broadcast will also include interviews with Nathe, former KIMT anchor Robin Wolfram, former news director Doug Merbach and journalist and private investigator Caroline Lowe, the release states.

Axelrod also spoke to Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley, who said "I think we're very close" to a break in the case.

"We have never closed the case. It's never been a cold case for us. It's been an active investigation since it happened," he said, according to the release.

Axelrod said the billboards and the active community on FindJodi.com are evidence that the case still holds a lot of interest for people in the area. He said part of what makes Huisentruit's story so compelling is the question of where she would be today.

"This was a young woman who had a brilliant future in front of her. Mason City, Iowa was not going to be her last stop as she climbed the broadcasting ladder," he said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correctly identify FindJodi.com as the organizers of the billboard campaign.

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